I headed out to MSU today to visit Lara. A while back, I found a computer for her to take to school. Apparently the school networking staff now hand out CD-ROMs to connect the student computers to the school network; however, the CD only works with Windows XP and her machine has Windows 2000. They included directions for other operating systems but she's not the most computer savvy person so she left them for me to tackle.
After i got the computer online and she checked her e-mail, we took a walk around campus to see where her classes are. I thought the same thing then as i did when i was a high school senior visiting the school for the first time: this is a big place. She lives in the Brody Complex which is way on the edge of campus. Being a music major, most of her classes are in the same building which luckily isn't too far away.
"I wish i could go back to college," from Avenue Q, started playing in my head. It really is like a whole other world out there. It would be so much fun to be able to live in an environment where the only thing you have to worry about learning. We passed the marching band practicing in a field playing the fight song. People were reading books beneath the trees. Joggers were making their way about with iPods in hand. The boys were playing Halo on their computers. Lunch plans were scribbled across white boards (many of which now sport a metallic-like finish). The only disappointing part was how old i felt when i saw how young the freshmen looked.
The whole trip seemed familiar. I had a good friend who, several years ago, actually lived in the same building, just a few doors down from where Lara is now. I occasionally would head out there to make a visit. On the drive out, i saw all the exit markers and geographical features that i had almost forgotten about. My hands just seemed to know when to turn. It almost felt like traveling back in time.
Perhaps inspired by my trip to MSU, I stopped by Grand Valley on my way home. I needed to pick up the textbook for my class which starts Monday night. (Textbook rant: I'm still shocked by how much these books cost. This hard cover priced out to $50 a pound.) There, too, where students scurrying about getting ready for classes. I realized just how different the campuses where. Beyond the obvious size difference, GVSU felt so much more homogeneous. Nevertheless, it still is a nice place to mill about. My brief trip there put me in the spirit of the semester.
Posted by Matthew at August 28, 2004 04:40 PM